Day 5 Hong Kong

We started our day by taking the MTR from Tsim Sha Tsui to Causeway Bay. We had to switch to the Island Line at Admiralty in order to get to Causeway Bay. 

Our aim was to go to Times Square first so we should have chosen Exit A and exit from there before we tapped the Octopus card at the automated turnstile. However, we made a mistake by exiting from the automated turnstile first then tried looking for Exit A. Sadly, that was a mistake and we could only exit via Exits D, E or F. So we took exit F1. We went to Sogo. Along the way, we saw the baricaded area for the HK protest group. No one was in sight but we did see some tents and policemen.

Got myself a Marc Jacobs bracelet for HKD 437 at Sogo. Saw a pretty wallet from Samatha Thavasa in Tiffany Blue retailing for HKD 1200. Contemplated on buying but did not buy it in the end (regretting it now :/ ). It is a Japanese brand and has stores in US too.

We met a nice and friendly Malaysian diplomat and chatted for a while.

We then made our way to Times Square. Along the way, hubby entered a three-storey Nike store. We did not get anything from there nor at Times Square.

Christmas decorations outside Times Square

It was already 3 p.m. and our stomachs have started to rumble. However, a look at our Samsung Handy showed that some of the halal restaurants were quite a walking distance away. Since we wanted to go to Ladies Market, we decided to have our meal there instead. So we took the MTR. There is a link to the MTR from Times Square itself. 

We took the MTR from Causeway Bay, switched to the Tsuen Wan Line (red) heading towards Central and stopped at Mongkok. Made our way to Argyle Street, better known as Ladies Market. We bought a small bag for Ulfa and a leather bag for hubby. We did not get anything much. The things sold were not that cheap. Do bargain a lot if you want to buy an item. I normally quote half the price of what the stallholder offers. From there we decide on the appropriate price.

We then had our meal at Ottoman Mediterranean Cuisine at Ladies Market itself. This is a halal-certified restaurant by the Incorporated Trustees of the Islamic Community Fund of Hong Kong. The owner is a very nice Turkish man named Jameel. The restaurant has free Wi-fi (thumbs up for that!) and the owner gave us the password. We ordered Lamb and Cheese Pide, Chicken Doner Roll, Beef Kebab with Rice, Marinated Chicken Wings, Baklava and Potato Wedges. Hubby also ordered the Turkish Mint Tea (green in colour) which was pretty nice and refreshing. The beef for the Beef Kebab was very soft and goes very well with the rice. The Lamb and Cheese Pide was delicious! The bread was soft and the cheese goes very well with the sweet and juicy lamb.

View from inside the restaurant

I love that yellow HOT chili sauce. Really HOT!

The best pide I ever had. The kids agreed.

After the meal, the sun had started to set. So we headed back to our hotel, The Mira, at Tsim Sha Tsui using the MTR. It was very crowded. At Tsim Sha Tsui station, we returned the Octopus Card at the counter and was refunded the unused amount together with the deposit, minus the admin fee of HKD9. We got back to our hotel, informed the hotel to book for us a taxi to the airport the next morning and started packing for Korea. 

Hong Kong has very nice shopping areas but the prices are not extremely cheap either. Some brands are cheaper though because there is no tax on the goods. Overall, halal food is on the pricey side in Hong Kong seeing that it is not as readily available as it is in Singapore.

Do wait for my next blog post on our trip to Seoul, South Korea.

Day 4 Hong Kong

We decided to return to Harbour City as we did not explore much of it previously. So we walked from The Mira Hotel to Harbour City.

There are lots of high-end boutiques at Harbour City. These are all the authentic boutiques of course. We walked around and shopped. We stopped by a cafe for coffee. The cafe was overlooking the harbour and we saw Superstar Virgo docking. It was a beautiful sight. 

Beautiful view

Then we shopped some more. We returned to our area along Nathan Road and explored the shopping centres around there. Thereafter we returned to our hotel.

We really wanted to try halal Hong Kong food. Afterall, if you are in a country, you have to try their food. We saw that Ma's Restaurant was located between Prince Edward Station and Sham Shui Po Station. To go there, we need to take the MTR and it is about 3 stations away. But after searching some more, we discovered that there is a 2nd Ma's Restaurant branch in Tsim Sha Tsui itself! And this was just a short walking distance. It is at H8 Building, on the 8th Floor. The address is: H8, 8F, Hau Fook Street, Tsim Sha Tsui. We called to confirm that it was opened and indeed it was. Ma's Restaurant is a halal-certified restaurant.

We had a delicious and satisfying meal. We were so glad to have found this gem!

How to get to Ma's Restaurant at Tsim Sha Tsui:
From Nathan Road, enter Granville Road. As you walk down, you will pass by Carnarvon Road (do not enter this road). Walk a little bit down. You will then spot Cotton On on your right. Walk into the alley next to Cotton On.

Walk down the alley and you will come to this:

H8 building is just behind me as I took this picture. In other words, I am standing in front of H8 Building where Ma's Restaurant is.

Go to H8 Building and take the lift to the 8th floor. There is a security guard at the lobby. The minute he saw us, he told us : "8th floor". Haha, I guess that must be the only halal restaurant in that building.

So go up to the 8th floor. The door will open up to this:

And you are at Ma's Restaurant! They have all the halal certificates and newspaper articles displayed. The waitresses and the chef are very nice people indeed.

The restaurant layout

Our orders:

We really enjoyed eating at Ma's Restaurant. In fact, Auni and hubby requested to return to this restaurant again.
p/s: They have baby seats too ;)